Workspace productivity leader accelerates product launches, coordinates global supply chain with product lifecycle management
Lawrence, MA — January 17, 2005 — Swingline, the leader in workspace productivity and a business unit of ACCO Brands Inc., said today it will deploy Aras Corp.'s product lifecycle management (PLM) to automate its engineering change control, document management and corrective action processes.
Swingline provides a line of staplers and punch products for the business, home and mobile office.
"Our market is increasingly dynamic, and competition continues to intensify; we needed a PLM solution that is both affordable and flexible enough to easily adapt to the conditions," said Bruce Neapole, president of Swingline. "Aras PLM provides the type of practical business solution that drives our strategic competitive advantage."
Swingline said it will automate business processes critical to new product development and brand introduction, providing dashboard visibility into the portfolio of ongoing projects. Browser-based progress reports are displayed in a single screen. Status details are based on roll-ups that provide the ability to drill down to the deliverables to take action. The capability to communicate specifications worldwide in a secure format over the Internet drives down costs and reduces cycle times while protecting competitive company information.
"The flexibility of Aras PLM means we automate our own proprietary competitive practices and can change the solution to take advantage of new opportunities in the market," said John Lewis, vice president of Operations at Swingline. "Aras PLM gives us the ability to assure our stringent quality levels in a cost effective manner by coordinating our new product introductions and international operations as we scale up production volumes."
According to Todd King, director, Performance Excellence at ACCO Brands, "After a review of PLM solutions, Aras is the only one who met our business requirements and our financial objectives. Aras' unique combination of functionality and flexibility allows us to implement a superior solution globally in days rather than months."
